Combined rifle and grenade launcher weapon selectively fired by a single trigger



y 6, 1959 .1. H. MULLER 3,442,173

COMBINED RIFLE AND GRENADE LAUNCHER WEAPON SELECTIVELY FIRED BY A SINGLE TRIGGER Filed May 28, 1968 Sheet of 5 INVENTOR James HMIIUET BY wa P- I ATTORN EY May 6, 1969 J. H. ULLER 3,442,173

COMBINED RIFLE AND GREN LAUNCHER WEAPON SELECTIVELY FIRED BY A SINGLE TRIGGER Filed May 28,1968 Sheet 2 as 5 :1: 42 2 I 'Ef 94 52 |"O'l'|'h"1| 22 96 6 I22 50 113 5 n9; H4

INVENTOR James HMUUEI ATTQNEY y 6, 1969 J. H. MULLER 3,442,173

COMBINED RIFLE AND GRENA DE LAUNCHER WEAPON SELEOTIVELY FIRED BY A SINGLE TRIGGER Filed May 28, 1968 Sheet 3 of5 INVENTOR Jnmes H.Mu11a1- g M w, IW X ATTORNEY y 69 J. H. MULLER 3,442,173

COMBINED RIFLE AND GRENADE LAUNCHER WEAPON SELECTIVELY FIRED BY A SINGLE TRIGGER Filed May 28, 1968 4 i".m A m. in.

3,4421 73 R WEAPON SELECTIVELY IGGER LER UNCHE TR May 6, 1969 J. H. MUL COMBINED RIFLE AND GRENADE LA FIRED BY A SINGLE Filed May 28, 1968 Sheet 5 of 5 INVENTOR JurnesHJVluHer BY 1 M r W 8w. ATTORNEY United States Patent O US. Cl. 89-127 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In a weapon including a rifle unit adapted for selective automatic and semi-automatic fire and a grenade launcher unit designed for successively firing a plurality of grenades without reloading, a trigger mechanism releasably connects the firing mechanism of the launcher to the rifle trigger for operation thereby and displaces the trigger relative to the rifle sear so that the rifle firing mechanism is inoperable by the trigger when the weapon is selected for grenade firing. Selection of the different firing operations is effected by a single rotary selector-safety which also acts to make the weapon safe against accidental discharge.

The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide for the military services a shoulder weapon which has a wide range of firing characteristics and is made simple to operate by eliminating complicated operating procedures for selecting the desired firing operation, which might lead to mistakes in stress of combat.

It is another object of this invention to combine in such a weapon a rifle unit adapted for automatic and semiautomatic operation and a grenade launcher unit designed to successively fire a plurality of grenades without reloading.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a weapon with a trigger mechanism whereby the rifle unit can be fired automatically or semi-automatically and the grenades successively launched by a single trigger.

It is a still further object of this invention to so arrange the trigger mechanism in cooperation with the rifle fire control mechanism that when the rifle unit or grenade launcher unit is selected for firing the other is made inoperable.

It is still another object of the invention to provide such a weapon whereby the diflerent operating characteristics are selected from a single rotary selector-safety device which also acts to render the weapon safe from accidental discharge.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the specification and the accompanying drawings which are for the purpose of illustration only in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the weapon of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary view of the fire control mechanism and trigger mechanism showing the hammer cocked, the selector-safety device positioned for ice automatic fire; and the automatic sear held in its disengaged position by the bolt;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the trigger pulled and the automatic sear in its engaged position holding the hammer cocked;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view showing the relationships of the members of the fire control mechanism and trigger mechanism when the selector-safety device is indexed in its Safe position whereby the weapon is made safe from accidental discharge;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the selector-safety device indexed for semi-automatic fire;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing the trigger pulled and the hammer cocked by the secondary sear;

FIG. 7 is a view taken along line 77 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a view taken along line 88 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the selector-safety device;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the trigger;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the secondary sear;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the primary sear;

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary view of the fire control mechanism, trigger mechanism and fire mechanism showing the trigger mechanism actuated by the selector-safety de vice to its engaged position and the trigger advanced thereby from its normal position (in phantom) to its forward position; and

FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIG. 13 but showing the trigger pulled to launch a grenade.

Shown in the drawings is a weapon 12 which consists of a rifle unit 14, a grenade launcher 16 mounted on the rifle unit and a trigger mechanism 18 which operatively connects firing mechanism 20 of the grenade launcher to fire control mechanism 22 of the rifle unit for operation thereby.

Rifle unit 14 comprises a receiver 24 which houses a reciprocating bolt 26 and supports a barrel 28 upon which grenade launcher 16 is mounted, and a housing 30 for fire control mechanism 22. Fire control mechanism 22 may be of any conventional design that adapts rifle unit 14 for selective automatic and semi-automatic fire. The firing mechanism selected for illustrating the present invention is substantially similar to the one disclosed in US Patent 3,045,555 to E. M. Stoner for Automatic Trigger Mechanism With Three Sears and a Rotatable Control Member. It includes a pivotal hammer 32 which is biased from a cocked to a striking position by a spring 34 and is actuated to the cocked position by bolt 26 during recoil travel thereof. Hammer 32 is selectively held cocked, when bolt 26 travels in counter-recoil to battery position, by a primary sear 36 and a secondary sear 38, which cooperate to effect semi-automatic fire, or by an automatic sear 40 which effects automatic burst firing. Selection of the desired firing operation is made by a rotary selector-safety device 42 which extends transversely through housing 30 and is arranged for manual displacement. Firing is controlled by a trigger 44 which is mounted for pivotal movement on a transverse pin 46 and which includes a depending finger piece 48 and a longitudinal slot 49 which bifurcates the upper portion of the trigger and receives a channelled bridge section 50 of housing 30, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7.

Primary sear 36 is essentially of bar configuration as shown in FIG. 12 and is pivotally mounted between the ends thereof on a transverse pin 51 through bridge section 50, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, so that front end 52 is receivable by a scar notch 54 in hammer 32 to releasably hold the hammer cocked. Rear end 56 of primary sear 36 is provided with a rearwardly extending tang 58 which cooperates with safety-selector device 42, as hereinafter described, to control the operation of the primary sear. A spring 60 acts against primary sear 36 to bias front end 52 upwardly to an engaged position relative to sear notch 54. Extending transversely through trigger 44 above front end 52 is a pin 62 which is contactable thereby so that spring 60, through primary sear 36, acts as the means for biasing the trigger forwardly, and when the front end is in engagement with sear notch 54 the trigger is held by such spring in its normal inoperative position. When trigger 44 is pulled to its firing position, pin 62 acts downwardly on front end 52 which is thereby displaced to its disengaged position, relative to sear notch 54, for release of hammer 32.

Secondary sear 38 is received by slot 49 in trigger 44 and is pivotally mounted therewith on pin 46. Secondary sear 38 includes a hook 66 which is engageable with a scar notch 68 in hammer 32 to releasably hold the hammer cocked, as shown in FIG. 6. An arm 70 extends rearwardly from secondary sear 38 for cooperation with selector-safety device 42 so as to control the operation of the secondary sear as hereinafter described. Secondary sear 38 is biased to its engaging position, relative to hammer 32, by a spring 72 and is actuatable to a disengaged position, relative to the hammer, through the contact of pin 62 with the underside of the secondary sear forwardly of pin 46 when trigger 44 is released to its normal inoperative position as shown in FIG. 5. Thus, when hammer 32 is pivoted rearwardly by recoiling bolt 26 and trigger 44 remains pulled to its firing position the hammer is held cocked by secondary sear 38. When trigger 44 is released, spring 60 acting against primary sear 36 presses upwardly on pin 62 to move the trigger to its inoperative position and at the same time presses such pin upwardly against secondary sear 38. Thus, secondary sear 38 is displaced from its engaged position to release hammer 32 but not before primary sear 36 is positioned to engage its cooperating sear notch 54 so that the hammer again comes under the control of the primary sear.

Automatic sear 40 includes a supporting arm 78 which is pivotally mounted on a pin 80 and is spring-biased from a disengaged position, wherein it is vertically disposed, as best shown in FIG. 2, to an inclined engaged position, as best shown in FIG. 3. A leaf-type latch '82 is fixed to the upper end of arm 78 While the lower end thereof extends into cooperation with selector-safety device 42, as hereinafter described. When automatic sear 40 is in its engaged position lower end 84 of latch 82 is engageable with sear notch 86 in hammer 32, as shown in FIG. 3, to releasably hold the hammer cocked while upper end 88 of the latch is positioned for contact by bolt 26, when traveling to its battery position and is adjacent thereto to pivot the automatic sear to its disengaged position and thereby disengage the lower end from its cooperating sear notch for release of hammer 32.

Referring particularly to FIG. 9, it is seen that selectorsafety device 42 includes a shaft 90, which is divided into two parts for assembly purposes, and a knob 92 for manually turning the shaft to its several indexed positions. Shaft 90 includes a section A which is in registry with arm 78 of automatic sear 40 and which includes a recess 93 arranged to permit uninterrupted operation of the automatic sear when selector-safety device 42 i indexed for automatic fire. When selector-safety device 42 is indexed for any other type of firing operation, the un interrupted periphery of section A noted at 95 contactsarm 78 to hold automatic sear 40 in its disengaged position so as to be inoperable.

Shaft 90 also includes a section B of reduced diameter, which is in registry with a finger 94 extending rearwardly from trigger 44, tang 58 on primary sear 36 and arm 70 of secondary sear 38. Section B includes a protruding cam surface 96 which is contactable with arm 70 of secondary sear 38, when selector-safety device 42 is indexed for automatic fire, to make the secondary sear inoperative. A cut-out portion 97 in section B is in registry with tang 58 and finger 94 and is arranged to permit free actuation of trigger 44 and primary sear 36 when selectorsafety device 42 is indexed for automatic fire. When selector-safety device 42 is indexed for semi-automatic fire, finger 94, tang 58 and arm 70 are in registry with a recess 98 in section B which permits uninterrupted actuation of trigger 44, primary sear 36 and secondary sear 38. When selector-safety device 42 is indexed to the Safe position, periphery 99 of section B contacts finger 94 to block displacement of trigger 44 to its firing position and contacts tang 58 and arm 70 to block displacement of primary sear 36 and secondary sear 38, respectively, from their engaged positions.

Grenade launcher 16 may be of the type such as in disclosed in the patent application by Earle M. Harvey for Rifle Mounted Auxiliary Firearm and Multiprojectile Cartridge Therefor, Ser. No. 177,707, filed May 2, 1962, now Patent No. 3,395,478, whereby a plurality of grenades 100 in tandem arrangement may be successively launched by sequential discharge of an explosive propellant in back of each grenade through firing pins successively actuated against the explosives, starting from the front one of the grenades. The firing pins, one of which is shown at 103 in FIG. 14, are spring-biased against the related propellant charge.

Firing mechanism 20 includes a sear bar 102, which releasably holds firing pins 103 cocked, and a cooperating rocker arm 104. A pawl 106 is pivotally mounted at one end of rocker arm 104 and, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, is spring biased into contact with sear bar 102 to engage successive ones of the teeth 108 therein each time the rocker arm is pivoted, to progressive advance sear bar 102 for successive release of firing pins 103. An actuating arm 110 extends above the pivotal point of rocker arm 104 and a spring 112 is arranged to act against rocker arm 104 so that pawl 106 is pressed to its rearward position and actuator arm 110 to its forward position.

Trigger mechanism 18 releasably connects actuating arm 110 to trigger 44 by means of a longitudinally sliding trigger bar 113 connected at the front end to the actuating arm, and a link 114 pivotally connected at its front end to the rear end of the trigger bar. Link 114 is provided "with a forwardly facing shoulder 116 which is engageable by a protruding stud 118 on trigger 44 so that when the trigger is pulled rearwardly such stud acts against the shoulder to displace the link rearwardly as shown in FIG. 14. Rearward displacement of link 114 is transmitted to trigger bar 113 which acts to pull actuator arm 110 of firing mechanism 20 rearwardly.

Displacement of link 114 to its engaged and disengaged positions, respective to trigger 44, is effected by a lever 117 which is pivotally mounted between the ends thereof on a pin 119. Lever 117 is pivotally connected to link 114 through the cooperation of a pin 121 through the front end of the lever with a slot in the rear end of the link. The rear end of lever 117 is pivotally connected to a plunger 122 which is arranged as shown in FIGS. 6 and 13 for vertical displacement in housing 30 and which is biased upwardly by a pair of springs 124. Lever 117 is connected to plunger 122 by means of a pin 125 protruding therefrom and a cooperating slot 126 in the rear end of the lever, whereby the upward bias of the rear end of lever by the plunger presses the rear end of link 114 downwardly, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 6, to move shoulder 116 to a position away from engagement by stud 118.

As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, link 114 is actuated to an engaged position, wherein shoulder 116 is positioned for engagement by stud 118, by means of a cam lobe 127 on selector-safety device 42, which is actuatable against head 128 of plunger 122, when the selector-safety device is indexed for grenade launching, to depress the plunger. Depression of plunger 122 raises the front end of lever 117 and thereby elevates link 114 so that shoulder 116 is positioned for engagement by stud 118. Shoulder 116 includes an inclined cam portion 130 which during displacement of stud 118 therealong when link 114 is displaced to its engaged position, serves to pivot trigger 44 forwardly of its normal inoperative position, shown in phantom in FIG. 13, to a forward position. As shown in FIG. 7, this forward positioning of trigger 44 elevates pin 62 so that the trigger is permitted limited rotation, enough to actuate trigger mechanism 20, before such pin can come into contact with primary sear 36 for actuation thereof to release hammer 32. When in its'forward position, the rearward displacement of trigger 44 is stopped, so that primary sear 36 will not be contacted by pin 62, by contact of finger 94 of the trigger with periphery 99 of section B of selector-safety device 42 as shown in FIG. 8. With link 114 in its engaged position, pressed engagement is made between shoulder 116 and stud 118 to hold trigger 44 in its forward position by means of spring 112 in firing mechanism 20 of grenade launcher 16, which acts to bias the link forwardly through trigger bar 113. Consequently, with selector-safety device 42 indexed for grenade launching operation, trigger 44 is under the influence of spring 112 of grenade launcher 16 and isolated from spring 60 which can no longer act against the trigger with pin 62 being elevated away from contact with primary sear 36.

Operation When weapon 12 is to be made safe from accidental discharge, selector-safety device 42 is indexed in its Safe position (FIG. 4), whereby trigger 44 is blocked against displacement to its firing position, primary sear 36 and secondary sear 38 are blocked against displacement from their engaged positions and link 114 is displaced to its disengaged position to disconnect firing mechanism 20 from fire control mechanism 22.

When weapon 12 is selected for grenade launching (FIGS. 13 and 14), selector-safety device 42 is properly indexed according to reference symbols suitably marked on knob 92 whereby link 114 is actuated to its engaged position connecting trigger 44 to firing mechanism 20 through trigger mechanism 18 and the trigger is advanced to its forward position to isolate it operatively from primary sear 36. Thus, actuation of trigger 44 to its firing position actuates sear bar 102 one step for launching a grenade 100.

Semi-automatic fire is effected by properly indexing selector-safety device 42 (FIGS. 5 and 6) whereby link 114 is displaced to its disengaged position, automatic sear 40 is made inoperative through the contact of periphery 95 of section A with the bottom end of arm 78 which pivots the automatic sear to its inoperative position while primary sear 36 and secondary sear 38 are permitted free operation by means of recess 98 in section B.

When selector-safety device 42 is indexed for automatic fire (FIGS. 2 and 3), link 114 is displaced to its disengaged position, recess 93 in section A is positioned in registry with the bottom end of arm 78 to permit free operation of automatic sear 40, and cam surface 96 is positioned to make secondary sear 38 inoperative. Primary sear 36 is free for displacement by trigger 44 to start and end an automatic burst through the cooperation of cutout portion 97 in section B with tang 58 of the primary sear.

I claim:

1. A weapon including a rifle unit provided with a fire control mechanism adapting said rifie unit for selective automatic and semi-automatic operation, a trigger of said fire control mechanism and a selector-safety device for manually effecting the selected operation, a grenade launcher mounted on said rifle unit, a firing mechanism of said grenade launcher, and a trigger mechanism releasably connecting said firing mechanism to said trigger for operation thereby, said trigger mechanism including a link actuatable into engagement with said trigger by said selector-safety device, and means in said fire control mechanism and said firing mechanism disposed in cooperation with said trigger mechanism for displacing said trigger to a position operatively isolated from the remaining fire control mechanism to prevent operation of said rifle unit by said trigger when the weapon is selected for grenade launcher firing.

2. The weapon as defined in claim 1 wherein said trigger mechanism includes a trigger bar connected at one end to said firing mechanism for actuation thereof and at the other end to said link, means for biasing said link from an engaged to a disengaged position respective to said trigger, means on said link and said trigger arranged for engagement when said link is in the engaged position to transmit displacement of said trigger to its firing position to said firing mechanism for actuation thereof.

3. The weapon as defined in claim 2 wherein said means for biasing said link to the disengaged position include a lever mounted between the ends thereof for pivotal displacement and connected at one of the ends to said link, and a spring-biased plunger connected by pin means to the other one of the ends of said lever.

4. The weapon as defined in claim 2 wherein said trigger mechanism includes means actuatable by said selector safety device for displacing said link to the engaged position when said selector-safety device is indexed for grenade launcher operation.

5. The weapon as defined in claim 4 wherein said means actuatable by said selector-safety device for displacing said link to the engaged position includes a lever mounted between the ends thereof for pivotal displacement and connected at one of the ends thereof to said link, a springbiased plunger connected by pin means to the other one of the ends of said lever, and a head on said plunger contactable by a cam lobe on said selector-safety device for depressing said plunger against the spring bias when said selector-safety device is indexed for grenade launching operation.

6. The weapon as defined in claim 4 wherein said means on said link and said trigger include a stud on said trigger disposed for actuation against a shoulder on said link when said trigger is pulled to the firing position.

7. The weapon as defined in claim 6 wherein said shoulder on said link includes an inclined cam surface disposed for cooperation with said stud on said trigger so that when said link is displaced to the engaged position said trigger is pressed to a new position operatively isolated from other operating members of said fire control mechanism.

8. The weapon as defined in claim 7 wherein said fire control mechanism includes a first spring arranged to bias said trigger from a firing to a normal inoperative position and to be free of said trigger when pressed to the new position, and a second spring located in said firing mechanism of said grenade launcher and connected to said trigger when said selector-safety device is indexed for grenade launching for biasing said trigger to the new position.

9. The weapon as defined in claim 8 wherein said fire control mechanism includes a pivotal hammer, a primary sear biased by said first spring from a disengaged position to an engaged position relative to said hammer to releasably hold the hammer cocked, a transverse pin through said trigger arranged to be acted upon by said primary sear to bias said trigger to its normal inoperative position and to act against said primary sear for displacement thereof to the disengaged position thereof when said trigger is pulled to its firing position, and said pin being located in said trigger so as to be displaced therewith to a position sufficiently spaced from said primary sear when 7 8 trigger is actuated to its new position to permit actuation FOREIGN PATENTS of said trdigger mechanism by said trigger Without displac- 1 026 665 3/1958 Germany.

ing said primary sear from its engaged position.

BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner 5 STEPHEN c. BENTLEY, Assistant Examiner US. Cl X.R.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,935,915 5/1960 Janson 89-126 X 3,279,114 10/1966 Lewis et a1. 42-1 421;89*148 

